Lina had never been to this shop before, although obviously she’d known about it almost as long as she’d lived in town. But it wasn’t the sort of place people went unless they were no better than they should be.

She dithered over several different racks and displays. Sherry kept pointing out other options, persuading her to reach out her hand and touch the heavy leather of one corset, the soft suede of another, to test them not just for how they’d look but how they’d feel. And she was conscious throughout that the woman at the counter was watching her, and she was amused.

She supposed that meant that her behaviour wasn’t too unusual. That was probably a good sign; it would be nice if she came away with something daring, striking, and not so weird she couldn’t wear it at a club.

With Sherry’s encouragement, she eventually picked out a sleeveless black PVC bodysuit which opened in a wide diamond across the chest. It would take some getting used to, but it would definitely produce the effect she wanted.

“And besides,” she told Sherry, “if this is in my wardrobe I’ve got the best incentive ever to keep my stomach flat.”

Sherry laughed but agreed. “Hang that up in front of you when you do your situps and you’ll be motivated for a hundred a day.”

They were close enough to the counter by then that the shopkeeper could hear them. She smiled in turn, and Lina felt herself a little warmer. Friends wanting to join with you was one thing but when strangers did, it was a little more special. And she needed the recognition right now.

Lina laid her choice down on the counter.

“Hey, Sherry,” the shopkeeper said. The two women smiled. “Not buying anything today?”

“Today’s all about my friend,” Sherry said in explanation. The shopkeeper’s smile didn’t exactly change, but something about the eyes made it seem suddenly deeper and more complex than before. Lina had the strange feeling that somehow the two other women had exchanged much more information in that look.

“Well, I’m sure I’ll see you back soon,” the shopkeeper said. She started folding and wrapping Lina’s purchase. “And are you going to be a returning customer, do you think?” she asked, smiling.

“Uh… maybe?”

As they left Lina had a fleeting vision of a sex shop that could also be a confessional, a gossip hub, a welcoming place where you could be yourself.

That didn’t fit with her assumptions at all.

“Well,” Sherry said. “We’ve got something to help you catch a man. What about something for an interview?”

Lina exhaled slowly. “I should be thinking about that,” she said. “I know. I just… I’d really rather not. Not yet. Not until I’ve got something more concrete in place. You know?”

Sherry nodded. “Alright. Then let’s get some perfume, then buy some drinks for later. Sound good?”

Lina smiled. “Definitely.”

*

Lina was laughing often and smiling more than not by the time they were back in the car again, heading for the home Sherry kept for her Master.

Sherry was happy with that; it was going to be enough to get things started. She was sure Master had been following her texted updates, too, and would be ready for the next phase. This was the one he was going to have to handle himself; she honestly couldn’t remember much of the conversion. Master had had to remind her that serum was even involved, and that he’d had to disguise it in strongly-flavoured items.

Sherry was just going to follow his lead, and she was sure she’d enjoy doing so, just like she enjoyed everything else he had her do.

“I’m really glad you came out today,” she told Lina as she turned onto the road where she and Master lived. “It’s definitely time your luck turned around.”

“Thanks,” Lina said quietly. There was an odd tautness to her tone. Sherry wasn’t sure whether that was serum-driven arousal, honest emotional gratitude or a combination of both. “I… really appreciate you doing this, Sherry.

“I’d kind of thought that you and me were just going to be online friends only. Like you said, we’ve missed each other so many times I’d basically given up on it.”

Sherry nodded soberly, glad her eyes were on the road. “I haven’t gotten out and about as much as I should lately,” she said. “And with you not making many parties or dinners either… it’s been, what? Since New Years?”

Neither of them wanted to acknowledge it, but their paths had crossed for less than a half hour that time, too. Both of them had only been at the party for fleeting moments.

Sherry often wondered whether she should ask Master to host some parties of his own, so they could see their friends on their terms, but it wouldn’t be the same if she had to hide who he’d made her.

And honestly… if there was a thing she got out of this suggestion? It was that she’d be able to show off who she now knew she truly was to a friend who, converted herself, would understand.

The silence the rest of the way home was unbroken, but also surprisingly comfortable. Glancing across at her passenger out of the corner of her eye, Sherry was surprised to recognise that not-quite-vacant smile; a mind wandering on the serum.

Master opened the door to them both, smiling broadly. “Hey,” he said to Lina, returning her sunny, simple smile with a grin, before pulling Sherry into a hug; she flung her arms around his shoulders enthusiastically, her leg bending at the knee on reflex as she pressed her body against him, back arching in his arms.

She was almost put out that his hand never came to rest on her rear, but then she supposed that might have made Lina wonder just a little too early.

Still, Sherry planted a kiss on Master that took some time to end. Let Lina get the idea that there was something good here.

“How long have you two been together?” Lina asked.

“Two years and change,” Master said. “Why?”

“I’m just trying to work out how two years go by and someone’s still that happy to see you.”

He grinned - couldn’t help it - and just out of Lina’s sight, patted Sherry on the rear. “I think we’ve been lucky,” he said. “Sometimes that’s what it takes to find where you’re supposed to be.”

*

Lina blinked, glancing to Sherry. He’d echoed something she’d said… was that deliberate? Had they been discussing her?

It seemed a bit… intrusive… but she was here for lunch, and Sherry had been so nice, and his smile was…

…was…

Was it disloyal to her friend that she was entertaining ideas of stripping her man down to enjoy the view? That wasn’t like her, and yet somehow, it seemed perfectly natural.

Was this her libido coming back after Brian abandoned her? Was she waking up to new possibilities? And if she was, why as the possibility her brain wanted to explore a friend’s partner?

She shook her head fractionally, trying to clear away those unworthy thoughts. It didn’t work - her head was spinning more than before, her pulse was pounding - but she was aware the man who had abruptly become the centre of her lusts had stepped back and was inviting her into his home.

Some food and another coffee would solve this, surely.

She went inside.

Sherry’s man suggested they both go through to the sitting room while he finished up preparing lunch, and that Sherry route their Spotify account through the big TV. Once in a different room to him, Lina found that her pulse steadied and her brain cleared enough that she could think things through much more easily.

He came through with two plates piled high - savoury crepes rolled up and stuffed with cheese and ham, a hollandaise sauce ladled over the top - and even followed that up with a bottle of white wine and two glasses, chilled to perfection. Then he disappeared again, leaving the women to their peace.

It was pretty clearly just luxury, indulgence, but that was no bad thing. Lina could do with that.

They ate the meals side by side on the sofa, Sherry playing music through the TV, and they talked and joked.

Lina had the vague impression that the jokes were getting raunchier as the conversation went on, but if she was honest, she wasn’t sure which of them was driving that. It was just so… freeing… to not be thinking about Brian, or worried about saying the wrong thing, or to be thinking already at Saturday lunchtime about how much of her weekend was being lost to work.

*

Sherry crept closer and closer to Lina as the meal went on. By the time the plates were empty (and all the serum that had been disguised in crepe and in hollandaise was in her body), the two of them were side by side, warm bodies resting against each other. Lina was warmer than usual; Sherry was pretty confident that the serum was already starting to take its full effect.

When she felt the time was right, she picked up the TV remote and toggled it away from the music app, on to a feed from Master’s computer. The sound cut away, making it natural for Lina to glance up at the screen, where she saw a strange, rippling visualisation, chaotic, but with hints of a pattern within. Moment by moment it seemed to flicker between different states, swirling, shifting, twisting… captivating.

*

Truth be told, Lina had no idea what to make of any of this. It was suddenly quiet, and her mind felt the stillness of the silence far more than if conversation had just ended. She was conscious of the strange shifting in her own mind, and found it mirrored somehow in the screen.

She wasn’t thinking too hard about it, though. Thinking hard wasn’t on the agenda right now. It must be the wine, that and all the rich food. Her head was clearer than it had been in over a year; calmer and quieter, too.

She kept watching the screen. There was no reason not to.

Sherry was stroking her arm, slow strokes, up and down. Her skin was tingling with desire, with arousal. But she didn’t respond. Nothing was giving her a reason to, and it was so much easier just to keep watching the display and feeling so good than to try to form an idea in her emptying head.

*

Sherry took Lina’s arm lightly by the wrist and lifted it about a foot into the air, then let go. She watched it hang there, unmoved, without even dipping for a second when first released, and she smiled. She slid her hand under it, stroking the underside of her arm, wrist to elbow and back, in slow, light strokes.

Her eyes never left Lina’s, watching as the other woman gazed into the display, as serum and visual priming prepared her. And she watched the arousal continue to build.

Perfect.

She raised her voice. “She’s ready, Master,” she called. And for the first time that morning, her voice didn’t feel the need to substitute in her Master’s real name.

*

Master?

The thought came suddenly into Lina’s mind that this was not a word she’d expected to hear. She didn’t notice that it was the only thought presently in her mind, but she’d previously been enjoying a word she half-dreamed she’d seen in the screen’s patterns - ‘vacant’.

Vacant felt like a good word, and she’d been turning it over in her head, trying to decide why it felt so good.

“That’s very good, Sherry,” she heard him say as he re-entered the room. Normally she might have turned her head to look, but the screen was right in front of her gaze, and it didn’t seem relevant. She was sure the reason Sherry called him Master would explain itself soon. Her curiosity seemed almost nonexistent. That was fine, though. Curiosity and vacancy didn’t suit each other.

A hand was against the side of her head, the other side to Sherry, touching her lightly, brushing her hair back behind her ear. There was a sensation of movement, a change in the texture of the light that told her someone was bending over her, even as her eyes stayed fixed to the screen. Then she felt lips against her neck, a soft kiss, and the skin his lips had touched continued to tingle afterward. Lina didn’t know why any of this was happening, but that was fine. She was content to sit there and be kissed, be fondled, be caressed.

In point of fact, she was more than content - the pleasure throbbing through her body from these contacts was almost more than her vacant mind could cope with.

“You deserve to be happy, don’t you, Lina?” he asked. Lips parted, eyes on the screen, Lina wanted to agree, but didn’t want to disrupt the pleasure. Her head bobbed fractionally, almost too little to be seen, except that a red curl shook loose from behind her ear and demonstrated she’d moved.

“Good girl,” he assured her. Praise - from someone she barely knew, but with so little else happening in her mind and having been starved so long, she fell on it eagerly, enjoying it, wanting more of it, wanting more from it. He started stroking her hair, and she wanted to turn her head into it, to get more of it, but she didn’t have the active will to follow that up. Her eyes were glassy, now, unfocused, which somehow made the messages on the screen clearer and easier to see.

She hadn’t mistaken it earlier. ‘Vacant’ was the most common word. But others were there and consistently present, too. ‘Submissive’, ‘happy’, ‘obedient’, ‘proud’, ‘controlled’, ‘contented’, ‘protected’, ‘satisfied’, and more… but they seemed to enter her head by her eyes and bypass thoughts, sinking into the surroundings of her mind without any conscious awareness.

Sherry was still stroking her arm, but now she was also leaning in close, head burrowed into the crook of the neck, kissing and nuzzling at her. Lina’s body was responding to this beyond all her expectations, despite her lacking any sexual desire toward her friend. Her body was carrying her away.

She’d never felt so good. She’d never felt so right.

“You’re sitting there, not moving, not thinking, just enjoying,” he continued. “Your mind is completely vacant. Right?”

Another fractional nod; the stray curl bounced slightly. His hand, resting on her shoulder, squeezed it encouragingly. More praise! She had starved for it but she knew now that it was coming. She was protected now. She was proud now. It was no wonder she was content.

“Do you know why minds are vacant?” he asked. “Of course not,” he continued, his tone gentle, immediately killing the moment’s anxiety she’d felt almost as soon as it had a chance to form, “there’s no reason you should.”

“Your mind is vacant because nobody has moved in yet.”

Lina’s parted lips slowly curved into a parted smile. That made so much sense, and it was good to understand.

“I’m going to move in, Lina. I’m going to own you the way I own this home.”

It was presented as just a fact. And it still made perfect sense. Lina didn’t think to question it. She barely thought.

Besides, someone submissive and obedient should want to be controlled. It would make her happy. It would keep her satisfied.

“Do you want me to move in?” he asked. There was no movement this time but there was a soft whimper that Lina wasn’t even sure came from her.

“Good.” His voice was a barely-contained growl of pleasure. She was making him happy! This was good!

He reached over her shoulders, around Sherry’s head and her busy lips, and used a pair of kitchen scissors to snip open the top of her T-shirt. Sherry sat back on her knees, watching, and this man took hold of the cut-open ends around her neck and began to pull. Without the collar whole to keep it in place, her T-shirt tore easily down the front, until it rested to either side of her buxom chest, her bra jutting up proudly from her body’s slumped-back position.

“I own you, Lina,” he continued, his voice taut with excitement, yet confident of what he was saying. Lina wondered if he’d ever done this before. “You don’t need to make decisions any more. You don’t want to make decisions any more. You want to be a happy, helpless, submissive slave.” His hand slid down her chest, from her shoulder to the opposite breast, slipping under her bra cup as if he owned her.

But that made perfect sense, of course, because he owned her. He’d just told her so. “What do you want to be?” he asked.

It was finally a question that merited an answer with words. Her mouth sprung wider open, but her first attempt to speak was foiled, her throat having gone dry. Lina swallowed and said the only thing in her vacant mind - that is, aside from her owner - “I want to be a happy, helpless, submissive… slave.”

“If you’re not happy, you need to be changed so you can be.” That made perfect sense too. Lina was starting to realise that she’d finally found someone who could make the world make sense. Not just that, but he was helping her become better. Lina would never have considered becoming a helpless submissive slave on her own, despite it making her so happy. “So if you aren’t happy, you’ll come to your Master and help him change you again. Understand?”

It was hard to focus on his words - and she was sure that wasn’t appropriate, not when listening to the man who owned her - but she nodded, eyes never leaving the screen.

She heard Sherry squeal delightedly as she watched Lina’s descent, and it made her feel so good.

*

Sherry was bursting with happiness. She only vaguely remembered her own conversion. Getting to see it happen to a friend was like revisiting it for herself, and Lina was smiling already - which was just wonderful.

“You’ll address me as Master,” Master told Lina. She nodded again.

“Who am I?” Master asked her. “You are Master,” she said simply.

Sherry started easing the slashed T-shirt off Lina’s body, the better to show her off for Master. She was already looking forward to discovering new poses for the two of them which would showcase their differing looks. Would make their Master happy he had a choice.

Master leaned down and kissed Lina. He was blocking her sight of the screen, but it didn’t matter. She was far enough converted to kiss back, eager and happy - and clearly hungry for him; her body was still feeling the serum, and the screen’s conditioning would soon render her new state permanent.

Sherry watched Lina and Master kiss for longer than she’d been permitted to kiss him on her return, and she squirmed with happiness to see Lina properly following her new training. This was the path to happiness; this would finally solve Lina’s woes.

She was going to make such a good slave.

“Turn the TV off, Sherry,” Master instructed.

Sherry was keen to give her friend a good example of how a slave should behave. “Yes, Master,” she responded immediately. “Anything for you.” As she talked she scooped up the remote and shut the TV down. Lina’s body ceased holding so rigidly; she slumped a little in her chair.

He hooked a finger into Lina’s bra between her breasts and raised his hand, twisting his wrist slightly, pulling her from the sofa to a standing position and turning her to face him as he did. She bounced as she came to her feet, jiggling before coming to rest.

Master looked her up and down, then looked across to Sherry and grinned. “Strip her,” he instructed.

“Yes, Master.” Sherry bounded to her feet. She slipped behind Lina, so she wouldn’t obstruct her Master’s view of his new slave. A quick moment’s deliberation whether she should start above or below the waist; she decided to go below, her arms wrapping around Lina’s waist.

She gave her friend a reassuring hug, pressing close against her, and then unbuckled her belt, then unbuttoned her jeans. It suddenly occurred to her that this was all a show for Master.

She ran her fingers along the top of Lina’s jeans until she reached her hips; hooking her thumbs into the waistband there, she let herself glide down to her knees, drawing her arms down. It was meant to be perfectly smooth, but she had to do a little extra work just at the start, guiding the fabric over Lina’s firm round buttocks, before pulling them down much more efficiently afterward.

Resting on her knees, she leaned to the side, peering out from behind her friend at Master, her expression that particular blend of innocence and lust he always reacted to most strongly. She was definitely rewarded by the way his grin went from possessive to something almost primal.

Sherry rose again, unhooking Lina’s bra. She stepped around her unmoving fellow slave, and as her Master had done just minutes earlier, she hooked her finger between Lina’s breasts, then swept her arm across her body in a bow. The bra slipped easily from Lina’s body, leaving the entranced new convert standing in panties and flats alone.

*

Master reached out and stroked his hand along Lina’s face. She felt his touch more closely and sensitively than she had ever imagined she would; nearly naked before him, she shivered in delight. He ran his thumb across her lips. Lina couldn’t have told you why she did what she did, but acting on something like instinct, she opened her mouth, welcoming it in; her jaw closed down firmly, nipping at his skin, her eyes gazing up at him, the light of desire glowing under her still-glassy expression.

He bit his lip briefly, eyes locked on hers, and her lips parted in delight. She felt a thumb slide under her panties at the hip, then he jerked at the waistband, and she was pulled toward him, taking two quick steps to stay upright, her breasts suddenly firmly against his shirt. The contact made the programming in her head practically explode into euphoria, and without thinking she flung her arms around him and held him close. He smirked; everything she was feeling redoubled again, so proud to be so wanted, to proud to be so totally his, and her eyes rolled back in her head as she moaned.

He slid his other hand into her hair at the side of her head, closing it into a loose fist, and turned, walking her out of the living room, through the kitchen, and to the stairs, where he guided her in front of him.

Lina realised at once what her Master must want and made her way up the stairs, taking advantage of the sway from step to step to roll her hips. She was on show for her Master now, and you only got one chance to make a first impression.

She didn’t know the house’s layout, but once on the landing, she saw a door ajar, a double bed visible behind it. That had to be her destination.

She opened the door wider and stepped in, turning just before the corner and sitting back, one foot over each side of the corner, thighs wide.

She looked back at her Master with the euphoria of the new convert.

He stepped in after her and silently pulled off his shirt. He fumbled at his belt for a moment and trampled his way out of his jeans, revealing that he hadn’t bothered with underwear. Lina realised for the first time how completely premeditated this had been, and that she wouldn’t be going out to a spa that afternoon.

That was fine. This was going to be better.

He moved in close, placing his hand on her sternum, fingers spread. He exerted almost no pressure, yet she scurried back on the bed, obedient to his wishes, until he could crawl onto it behind her. Again he caught her panties at the hips, this time carefully working them back over her rear and then tugging them away until, her feet shaken clear of them, he could throw them back over his shoulder. She watched them sail out of the room to land on the upstairs landing.

His arms slid under her thighs and he lifted her up by her legs, shifting forward so he could enter her more easily. Lina squealed in delight, so ready to be used - and to use in return, because his pleasure was her pleasure - that even with her back arched and her legs up over his head, pinned against the bed, she was ready for him.

Master thrust inside her and almost immediately she was responding, humping back against him, her need growing, her lust building, feeling complete for the first time in years.

She didn’t need the approval of her work colleagues. She didn’t need Brian to lust after her. Didn’t even need to feel good about herself. If Master was happy with her, she was happy in turn. Was this love? Conditioning? Both?

Did it matter?

He shifted position, and she was able to wrap her legs around him, clinging to him. All the better to love him, to serve him, to help him fuck her, and to make sure he felt as good as she possibly could.

She was a ball of bliss and need, and the world had never been so good to her.

She should have got a Master years ago. Why had she never realised there had been a vacancy in her head the whole time?

Her hands became fists in the quilt as she looked for purchase to better pleasure him. She saw his eyes on her bouncing chest and realised something new to play up and emphasise.

She felt him twitch, then almost immediately fill her, and her eyes rolled back again, shallow gasps becoming a long, cracking cry of bliss as she came in her turn.

By the time she returned to awareness, her head lolling, her vision refocused on Sherry, standing leaning against the doorway, watching with a proud smile. She mouthed Thank you to her friend - and, she now understood, her fellow slave.

Sherry’s smile widened. Lina basked in that proud beam. And to think, earlier, she’d believed she knew how good a friend Lina was - she’d missed so much.

*

Sherry had been sent to Lina’s home with her keys, to pack everything of use or value. Lina would serve out her notice, Master had told her, and then the three of them would check Lina’s conditioning, adjust her as needed to make sure she was happy, and then decide whether she would join Sherry as a house slave or find another job, earning money for Master to manage.

It didn’t matter to Lina. She was now in her new latex outfit - her T-shirt being destroyed anyway - and had just poured Master a drink. Placing it on a silver tray, she swayed back to him (when Sherry brought her heels, she thought, the effect would be so much better) and bent from the waist, offering him both the tray and a perfect view of that bare diamond of flesh within her cleavage.

Master ran the side of his finger gently under her chin, watching her reaction, and accepted the glass. Lina paused for a moment, then settled to her knees at the base of his armchair. She leaned against his leg, resting her head on his lap, and closed her eyes, waiting for another chance to serve.

She was only just beginning to learn that her presence alone was also a service that would please her Master. She had already learned that service to her Master was the best way to please her, and the one that made her most proud.

She no longer consciously remembered her Master’s name, but she knew she had a lot of adjustments to go before she would always be perfectly happy. She was looking forward to being changed into her best possible self.